Brave and the Bold

The Brave and the Bold was a DC comic book series that ran for 200 issues from August 1955 to July 1983. Originally, Brave and the Bold was an anthology series featuring adventure tales from past ages with characters like Silent Knight, Viking Prince, Golden Gladiator, Robin Hood, and many others.

But with issue #25, the series got reinvented as a try-out title for new characters, concepts and etc. Each were tried out in three issues at a time. The first in issues #25-27 was the Suicide Squad, following by the Justice League of America from issues #28-30, leading to the title of the same name and the team becoming DC's well-known superhero team. Other characters and teams that became well-known thanks to the book were Metamorpho, Nemesis, and the Teen Titans, among others.

But then in issue #50, the series got reinvented again as a venue for team-ups between established characters. But, first in issues #67-71, and then #74 followed, random team-ups were replaced by Batman team-ups. Thus, yet again, the title was reinvented as a Batman team-up, with Batman as the main star of the book, and that stayed 'til the title's end with issue #200. While the reasons behind this move are unclear, the cover dates for the issues that started this reinvention seem to indicate that this started thanks to the Batman television series that was gaining popularity at the time.

Other than being a Batman team-up book, the title is also known for the first to feature Neal Adams' version of Batman, generating fan interest that led to his style becoming the then-modern, or currently modern, Batman image. The final issue featured the then-latest new superhero team that happened to be Batman's own superhero team; Batman and the Outsiders.